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CHASEbriefing for applicants
Prof. Dr. Maria Roth-LauretSussex AHRC/CHASE academic lead
What is CHASE?
• CHASE is the acronym for Consortium for the Arts and Humanities in the South East
• It is a group of research organisations, consisting of the Universities of East Anglia, Essex, Sussex, Kent plus Goldsmith’s College, The Open University and the Courtauld Institute of Art, who work as equal partners in one of the Arts and Humanities Council’s (AHRC) Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTP)
• Since 2013 the AHRC only awards its studentships for research in the Arts and Humanities via the DTPs
• The CHASE DTP is based at Sussex
the AHRC’s vision for Doctoral research
• develop world class researchers and the intellectual leaders of the future. . .
• highly-trained doctoral graduates in a range of public, private and third sector organisations …
• counter the view that academia is the only meaningful career for doctoral researchers.
(from: AHRC research training framework for Doctoral students)
CHASE’s vision for Doctoral training
…disciplinary and interdisciplinary, international and governed by the core principles of relevance and
flexibility, diversification and continuing professional development
…producing a distinctive groupof teachers and students, practitioners and managers
(from: CHASE agreement)
Who can apply?
• CHASE AHRC funding is available to Home and EU students • EU students not resident in the UK for three years prior to 30
September 2016 may be eligible for a fees-only award• Students in their 1st year of Doctoral study can (re-)apply• Students in their 2nd year of Doctoral study can (re-) apply, if
currently part-time• If you are not sure about your eligibility for a CHASE
studentship: contact [email protected]
Chancellor’s International Research Scholarship
• 10 available for 2017-18• Covers international fees, living allowance, and
£200 p.a. Research and Travel Grant• Apply via: School of English; School of History, Art
History, Philosophy and American Studies; School of Media, Film and Music
• 2 applications and deadlines: application to Sussex 5 January 2017 application to CIRS 19 January 2017
• Info: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/phd/fees-and-scholarships/scholarships/view/661
Chinese Scholarship Council/Sussex Joint Scholarship 2017
• Up to ten scholarships available• Cover international student fees/ bench fees; Chinese
Scholarship Council provides living stipend• For Chinese students only• Must have First Class degree BA equivalent and MA plus
appropriate IELTS level• Apply via: School of English; School of History, Art History,
Philosophy and American Studies; School of Media, Film and Music
• Deadlines Sussex 5 January Scholarship 19 January 2017• More info: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/phd/fees-and-
scholarships/scholarships/view/663
Some CHASE Sussex research topics
Among them:• Incarceration and Shared Language in
the Poetry of Anna Mendelsohn• Childhood and the Emotion of Corporal
Punishment in Britain, 1920-2003• The German Settler Press as Precarious
Media in Africa, 1898-1916• Shakespeare’s Political Animals• David Foster Wallace and the Failure of
Language• Psychogeography in Creative Practice
(documentary film)• The Prints of Agostino Caracci (1557-
1602) and the Reform of the Arts• Transgender Fiction: Theory and Practice• Agency and Emotion in Women’s
Household Management• Inscribing Christ with Epithets in post-
iconoclastic Byzantine Art• Personhood in Political Theory
CHASE application process and time-table
APPLICATION• 3 October 2016 Applications open for 2017 studentship competition • 11 January 2017 Deadline for students to apply for Doctoral study at
Sussex • 31 January 2017 Deadline to apply for a CHASE scholarship at Sussex--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SELECTION SUSSEX• 15 February 2017 Sussex Interview Day• 1 March 2017 Deadline for Sussex to send its 25 nominations for
scholarships to central CHASE panels---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SELECTION CENTRAL CHASE• 20- 24 March 2017 CHASE selection panels meet in London and produce ranked lists
• 4 April 2017 CHASE Management Board approves recommendations
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------OUTCOMES• From 6 April- mid May 2017 Applicants informed of outcome
Benefits of a CHASE studentship
1. Fees and living expenses2. Travel and accommodation for
conferences, archival research and events (on application)
3. 6-monthly conference Encounters with other CHASE students across the consortium
4. Termly meetings with other CHASE students at Sussex
5. Funded generic training and training specific to your individual needs (learning Latin, or interviewing techniques, or coding, or palaeography etc.)
6. Gain work experience with the BBC, National Gallery, the British Library et
7. International placements for several months in the Library of Congress, the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and others
How to get CHASE funding 1:your application
1. You apply for a PhD place at Sussex by 11 Jan 2017. You indicate in ‘other information’ that you wish to apply for CHASE funding.
2. Your application is considered by the Postgraduate Research selector in the School where your project would be supervised
3. If you are offered a place at Sussex, the Research and Enterprise Co-Ordinator in your School sends you an email with link to the online CHASE application form
4. You complete the online form, including details of your referees and supervisor(s)
5. Your referees and supervisor(s) are sent an automated email to complete their section of the form
6. Your full CHASE application is submitted online by 31 January 2017.
How to get CHASE funding 2:selection
7. Schools select applicants for interview8. If selected, you will be interviewed on the 15th of February9. School returns a ranked longlist to the Doctoral School 10. Directors of Doctoral Studies (‘the Sussex panel’) meet and select shortlist of 25 candidatesto put forward to central CHASE panels
11. CHASE subject panels meet and make recommendations to Management Board12. Outcomes communicated from 7 April 2017
how your application will be judged
1. Research proposal: originality,
relevance, interdisciplinarity, design (50%) 2. Demonstrated preparation for research: academic and non-academic
qualifications and experience (25%) 3. Suitability of research environment: supervisor fit, resources,
CHASE expertise available(25%) References are required, but will be used as ‘contextual information’( you can use the references you submitted for
your Sussex application again)
how to make a good application 1accessible and well -organised
How to make a good application 2consider your readers
Who will be reading your application?someone who is not a specialist, but is informed about the Arts and Humanities generally
1. Make sure your title gives a good indication of what your project is about
2. Communicate the nature and purpose of your project briefly and in clear, accessible language in the introduction
3. Be succinct, precise and assertive in your expression4. Use the limited number of words you have to be as
informative, concrete and definite about your project as you can be
5. Write your application in stages, so you can edit, edit, edit along the way
what not to do(from feedback on unsuccessful applications last year)
A funding application does not ask for a short essay, it asks for an explanation of the research you are hoping to do. So:1. Spend your time persuading your readers how interesting and original
and important your project is; posit great questions2. Don’t use too much specialist language, detail, and don’t argue but
hypothesize (you haven’t done the research yet) 3. Don’t append a long bibliography (it wastes words)4. To say ‘this hasn’t been done before’ is not enough; give a rationale for
your work (timeliness, benefits for the field as a whole, a new research context, whatever)
5. Don’t ignore the CHASE guidance that comes with the form—and check your eligibility
6. You can apply to other DTPs as well, but not to another university within CHASE (but you can apply for co-supervision with that institution instead)
how to write a good proposal 1
Use the guidance notes
Structure your proposal with subheadings:
1. general statement of the topic say what your research is about and state its purpose. If your work is practice-based or critical/creative, make this clear here.
2. research context and contribution to knowledge Locate your work in your field and outline here what is new about yours. Tell your readers why it needs doing.
3. research questions Formulate these as questions, not arguments or issues. They should follow naturally from what you have already said about your topic and existing work in the field.
how to write a good proposal 2
4. methods Describe how you are going to answer your research questions (theoretical framework, literature review, archival research, interviews, questionnaires, creative practice, close textual analysis) If your project is practice-based or critical and creative, list both your critical method and your mode of artistic production. A subheading entitled resources may be useful: mention here which materials in which archives you need to examine, for example.
5. schedule for completion. Make this as concrete as you can and think through all the eventualities (‘obtain ethical approval’ for example) 6. indicative bibliography. List major and main works here only.
good practice 1introducing your project
Passport to Xenotopia: Developing a critical approach to psychogeography in creative practice, with
particular reference to documentary film
IntroductionRobert Greene, film-maker and critic, argues that despite a new generation of filmmakers ‘making movies that happen to be documentaries’, building on bodies of work that are difficult, often controversial, there is still ‘a void in critical thinking on nonfiction’ (Greene, 2013). My proposed research seeks to address this critical void by looking at the resurgence in recent years in new approaches to both the hybrid documentary (a genre that mixes both nonfiction and fiction) and the first person essay film. Key to my study are the concepts of ‘xenotopia’ and ‘xenospaces’ and how they can be applied to critique the fascinating and contentious space within documentary that is neither fiction nor nonfiction but takes the viewer on a journey through a semi-fictional landscape created from familiar territories.
This will be a practice-led study, creating documentaries in the field of psychogeography and producing a series of short film experiments that will seek to investigate and test the ambiguous spaces between modes of representation. My aim is to contribute a new understanding of the potential of hybrid forms to challenge and expand current documentary practices. It will build directly on projects undertaken during my Digital Documentary MA including my MA final project: A Movement of Stills, a 22-minute pilot for the proposed series of short films. The film uses key experiences from my life as points of departure for a ‘psychogeographer’s journey’ - personal stories rendered apparently redundant through repeated anecdote but here re-appropriated as stepping-stones into critical thinking, generating fresh insight into the universal subject of our cultural ideas about time and space. The panel can view it here: https://vimeo.com/77588590
good practice 2 another introduction
‘serve your own sentences’: incarceration and shared language in the poetry of Anna Mendelssohn
IntroductionThis research project intends to explore the work of the poet and activist Anna Mendelssohn (1948-2009). To date, a handful of articles on Mendelssohn have been published but no more. I intend to address this deficit of critical attention and consider her poetry as an innovative way of generating new knowledge in the interdisciplinary field of literature, politics and socio-linguistics. Now is the right moment to study her artistic output: Mendelssohn’s poetry engages closely with timely issues of protest, policing, surveillance, and the place of the individual within a state geared up against the threat of terrorism.
good practice 3:research questions
Drawing on Psychogeography theory and the theories of writers such as Lefebvre, Zielinski and Foucault, my project will initially address the following principal research questions:
1. How does psychogeography and the concept of xenotopic space inform creative practice across media?2. How might psychogeography augment the realm of the first person essay film?3. How might documentary form be used to explore and expand a concept of ‘xenotopic’ space?
Or:
Key research questions: • How can knowledge gained from the personal stories of night-workers be
revealed in ethnographic and poetic film making?• What is the relationship between social and geographical liminality and what
effect do they have on social marginality? • What can the spatial organization of a video installation contribute to
understanding the experience of social and physical marginalisation?
good practice 4:methods
Research methods (Shakespeare’s Political Animals)My research will encompass both socio-historical and philosophical considerations, to complement the central literary analysis. Close readings will be in continuous dialogue with the wider context of early modern England through examination of the representation of animals, and animal products, in contemporary laws, and also in scientific, political and religious writings. Subject and key word searches on databases, such as EEBO, will aid the identification of such texts. In addition, documents related to heraldry, the possession of exotic pets and the trade of luxury furs will be located at the National Archives. Informed by my work at the NPG’s Heinz Archive and Library, I will also consult a variety of visual sources.
good practice 5:work schedule
Schedule of work
Year 1 (1st half of the year): Literature review, clarify research themes, ethics approval, initial call for volunteers.
Year 1 (2nd half of the year): Continue with the recruitment of volunteers, investigate locations for filming. Start plan and structure of thesis.
Year 2: Collect, sort and analyse personal narratives, location filming, writing up.
Year 3: Film editing, finish writing up, plan and exhibit final output (to take place at the end of year).
good practice 6:another realistic work schedule
Year 1: 2014/15Complete a comprehensive review of secondary literature which will form the first draft of the historiographical section of my thesis.Re-draft and submit proposal for M-O directive. Research at the National Archives with regard to two departmental committees (1938 & 1963) Research into evacuation, conceptions of the family and educational context. Research on the 1942 M-O directive. Begin analysis of the Mass-Observation project responses that will begin to arrive during the summer of 2015. Draft Chapters One and Two
Year Two: 2015/2016Continue analysis of the Mass-Observation project responses and other life history material. Research and analyse cultural representations of corporal punishment throughout my time period Research on papers at The Keep including the Gorer papers.Research at the National Archives relating to abolition in state schools. Newspaper research at the British Library. Research sociological studies into domestic use of corporal punishment.Draft Chapters Three and Four
Year Three: 2016/17Complete primary research. Re-visit historiography, with particular attention to new or revised studies.Draft Chapter Five, Introduction and Conclusion Completed first draft of thesis to be redrafted in preparation for submission.
good practice 7:bibliography
Indicative Bibliography
Gilbert, M., A Theory of Political Obligation (Clarendon, 2006)Jaeggi, R., Alienation (Columbia, forthcoming)Levine, A., 'Alienation as Heteronomy,' Philosophical Forum, 8.2-4 (1978)Marx, K. & Engels, F, Collected Works (Lawrence & Wishart, 1975-2005)Schmid, H. B., Plural Action (Springer, 2009)Schmitt, R., 'Marx's Concept of Alienation,' Topoi, 15.2 (1996)Searle, J., Making the Social World (Oxford, 2010)Rousseau, J.-J., The Social Contract (Oxford, 1994)Tuomela, R., The Philosophy of Sociality (Oxford, 2007)
good practice 8:practice-led research
Include links to online work portfolio or other documentation
Either as part of the “Research Background and Questions” section or “Research Methods”
Evidence of earlier work or current projects can help present a strong case for your professional practice, as well as help you articulate more precisely the nuances and directions of your future proposal.
Questions, please?
